Lanie looked around her apartment and sighed impatiently. She wanted everything to be perfect before the Italian-Canadian-Americans descended like well-dressed double-tongued locusts. It also didn't help that they were experiencing an end-of-March heat wave; which meant the furnace in the apartment building was making her sweat like crazy.

She hadn't gone with Dave to the airport, as it was her first day off after ten straight days on, and she was going to have to remind Perlmutter that being out for long hours when she needed consistent rest for her body wasn't going to keep happening for much longer. Harvey had told her on her last appointment that the baby was starting to 'assume the position', which meant staying upside down and starting to drop; she should anticipate feeling tired more frequently since it required a lot of her body energy. So she'd slept in, a pillow propped between her knees to alleviate the strain on her back and after a soothing shower with her lavender soap and a nice late breakfast of tea and oatmeal - she'd always thought the stuff look pre-digested but she'd developed a fondness for it around eighteen weeks. She'd thought about doing some laundry but discovered that Alice in Wonderland was on the Disney Channel as she'd eaten her breakfast and she'd stayed on the couch while she digested her food. By the time Alice had made it to the tea party, Lanie could feel her body begging her for more sleep so she promised herself just a few minutes with her eyes closed and the cozy ragged-quilt over her belly.

The next thing she knew was Dave's hand on her bump, the other on her face. 'Elenia,' he whispered, giving her a light kiss. 'Mama and Fabi are here, but they're only staying for a cup of tea, so if you want to keep sleeping it's okay.'

'No, no, I'll get up.'

'Lanie, you should rest when your body tells you to,' he reminded her. 'Remember what Honey-Milk and Amelia said about this stage of being pregnant? You need to start to match your mental and biological needs so that when labour starts you'll be much less inclined to fight your physical feelings.'

'Damn, you're too smart. Okay.' Lanie stayed where she was on the couch as Dave left the living room; she could hear somewhere behind her head her future mother- and sister-in-law speaking to Dave in Italian; despite being ginormous, Lanie felt the same rush she always did whenever she heard him speak like that.

But fancies about making love with Dave could wait until after his mother and sister weren't there. Lanie and Dave had agreed the hardest part to deal with about telling their parents was the fact that coming out and saying they were having a baby meant the entire family knew they had sex; while Lanie was perfectly comfortable in talking down-and-dirty about sex with her girls, admitting it to her fiance's parents that they'd rattled the headboards like sailors on leave had an entirely different flavour to it. It was like they were looking at them but really, they were mentally picturing them coupling naked together and it made the skin between her shoulder-blades itch.

Adjusting the pillow behind her head, Lanie felt her ears perk up when she heard the kettle being put on, and had the almost Pavlovian response to her tastebuds of sweet lemon-ginger tea. As she turned down the volume on the TV, Dave's sister Fabi appeared by her feet at the couch, sat down. She was the oldest of the Robbinses and had modeled to put herself through school for an archeological PhD - she had the same toasted-almond complexion as Dave and black hair in thick rolling waves down to her elbows. Her exquisite and enviable figure belied the fact she'd had four children, including a set of twins. She turned her soft brown eyes to Lanie, patted her foot.

'Hey Lanie. How you feeling, girl?'

'Fine. Sleepy. Glad to have a day off.'

'I remember that feeling with my first boy. Chances are if you're feeling this tired when you've been getting proper nutrients and exercise, you're carrying a boy because they go through more calories.' Fabi tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. 'I saw the nursery. It's beautiful, that mural is something you can admire for a long time, and your baby will too.'

'Well, it's not every day you get an Emmy-winner to paint your bedroom for you.'

Lanie twisted her neck around her pillow and saw Claudia 'Mama' Robbins bring the tea tray over. Like Fabi, she had a tawny complexion and dark hair, but her eyes were the same sharp green as Dave's. She set the tray down, poured first for her own daughter, who'd gotten up and moved so Dave could have the place of honour at Lanie's feet.

'Well, as soon as we pick out a name, we're thinking of getting a wood-carving done to look like one of those caravan placards,' Dave told them, gently rubbing Lanie's calves.

'We brought a present, too.' Fabi disappeared into the kitchen, came back with a wrapped box. 'I loved this when I was a new mom, so I give them to everyone I know who's having a baby.'

Lanie unwrapped the box, pulled out what appeared to be a long scarf in stripes of blue, yellow orange and purple. 'Thank you,' she said awkwardly, unsure of how to tell Fabi she wouldn't need it since the baby was being born at the start of summer.

'It's a roboso for carrying the baby, much easier for him or her to feel your heartbeat close than those Jolly-Jumpers or what have you. I got one after being on a dig in the Yucatan, the night before I left my host family gave it to me as a going-home gift since by then I was four months pregnant. Of course, now my daughter is fourteen and comments how her 'vintage baby sling' is the hottest thing amongst Hollywood moms.'

'How do you balance it?' Lanie asked, suddenly aware she could tap into a resource from one professional mom to another. 'Working and raising a family?'

'Having a strong partner helps a great deal. We agreed with each baby that the first year, I'd take my maternity leave, then when it was time for me to return to work, Steven took his paternity leave so our children had their parent at home with them consistently for the first two years. And if that's not possible, remembering that work can and sometimes has to stay at the office, that the meeting to prepare for on Monday can wait the three hours on Saturday when your children have recitals or soccer games.'

Lanie nodded, then felt the ripples of movement in her stomach. 'Gumball is waking up, and it looks like it's time for gymnastics.'

'Gumball?' Claudia looked at Lanie with amusement. 'Please tell me that's not one of those celebrity fads of naming your child like Cookie or Apple or Oatmeal.'

'No, no. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, so instead of calling the baby 'it' we're calling it gumball for the time being, since that is the belly's shape right now. Although, a friend of ours, her little guy who's almost two has started calling him or her 'Buddy', because he wants a boy to play with.'

Before Dave could add anything, the house-line rang and he excused himself to answer it; while he was gone, Claudia smiled at her future daughter-in-law. In terms of appearance, she was the last type that she'd have expected her son to pick, but when she'd heard her baby boy gush and bubble about his new lady Lanie and she'd met the petite doctor, it was impossible to think of him being with anyone else. Draining her cup, Claudia glance over when Dave came out of the bedroom with a confused look on his face. 'That was Meredeth. She said we need to get over to Chelsea pronto, because Gil and Robina are coming over with big news.'

'Oh, do you think he proposed to her?' Suddenly full of energy, Lanie popped up on the couch like a cork from a bottle.

'We'll head out then, leave you to your business. Dinner tonight at the hotel? Room service or the restaurant, your choice,' Claudia added, tugged on her coat.

'I'll let you know. We're probably having a celebration dinner for Gil and Robina, whatever their news turns out to be.'


'Meredeth?'

Lanie and Dave opened the front door of the townhouse, saw everyone from Christmas and the baby shower in the living room, standing around excitedly. Meredeth appeared out of the kitchen, nervously twisting at her wedding rings with Esposito hot on her heels.

'What's going on?'

'I don't know, Gil and Robina just called about twenty minutes ago, said they were on their way with some big news.'

'Smart money's on engagement,' Castle added, knowing he shouldn't add that just about everyone in the room had wagered on what the news might be; he was still finishing paying for organizing a Lanie-baby pool at the precinct without Beckett's involvement for her friend. 'But you never know, could be they found a house or Robina's getting promoted.'

'I don't think that kind of news warrants this hoopla a Tuesday afternoon, though,' Esposito said then paused. He had an idea of what it might be, but didn't want to voice it and jinx the whole shebang.

Lanie and Dave had barely gotten out of their coats and shoes, and settled with a beverage before the front door opened and the couple, who were clearly bursting at the seams with joy, arrived.

'Okay, yea, you're here, what's the news?' Meredeth blurted out as soon as they'd closed the doors.

Gil, who looked like he'd won the lottery, linked his fingers with Robina's. 'Can I tell them?'

'Sure.'

'Robina's pregnant! I'm gonna be a dad!'

The room collectively gasped so hard and loudly Lanie wondered how all the oxygen wasn't sucked out; everyone in the room knew exactly what this moment meant to Gil, whose ex-wife had tried to pass her lover's baby off as Gil's until he'd found out having children naturally was next to impossible for him.

'But, how...how?' Esposito asked carefully.

'I've been doing some therapies and back at Thanksgiving, my doctor told me we could start trying and see if it got us anywhere, and we went to the doctor's this morning after a home-stick popped positive.'

Robina dug into her purse, pulled out the sonogram printout. 'Seven weeks, which means we'll have one more place to set at Christmas this year!'

Everyone crowded around to give her and Gil hugs of congratulations; when it was Ryan's turn, he slapped Gil heartily on the back and kissed Robina's cheek. 'Congrats, bro, though I still have to say Lanie's way of telling us takes the blue ribbon.'

Lanie smiled as the baby rolled around and pressed its hand against her belly. 'Hear that? We're still number one.'


R&R&Enjoy!